Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, which is executing 4G project in city, has continued to violate the norms and also damage civic infrastructure. The company has reportedly laid optical fibre cables in a sewage line. Corporator from Gandhisagar ward Harshala Sable has demanded action against the company immediately.Anjaya Anparthi | TNN | October 22, 2015, 08:42 IST

Nagpur:Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, which is executing 4G project in city, has continued to violate the norms and also damage civic infrastructure. The company has reportedly laid optical fibre cables in a sewage line. Corporator from Gandhisagar ward Harshala Sable has demanded action against the company immediately.

Sable lodged a complaint with municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar, mayor Pravin Datke and standing committee chairman Ramesh Shingare on Tuesday. Sable told TOI that sewage flow at Chandak Layout, near Cotton Market, was blocked completely. “There were complaints from Chandak Layout and nearby areas of choking of sewage water. I lodged a complaint with the health department. Team from the department dug in two places to find the fault. They discovered optical fibre cables of Reliance Jio in the sewage line,” he said.

Sable added it was blatant violation of rules to lay optical fibre cables in sewage line. “We found that the cables were laid in sewage line from Gujjarwadi to Subhash Road passing Chandak Layout. Stringent action should be taken against the company,” she said.

Sub divisional engineer from Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) hot mix department Rajesh Ghurmule too confirmed that optical fibre cables were laid in sewage lines. “Reliance Jio has been given permission to lay optical fibre cables over 432km roads in various parts of the city. Company has laid cables along 330km as on date. It has to lay cables in earmarked areas subject to conditions. Cables cannot be laid in sewage lines. Action will be taken against the company and ensure cables are removed from the sewage line,” he said.

Ghurmule added the company will pay for repairs if the sewage line is damaged. “We are inspecting the works and ensuring there is no more damage to civic infrastructure,” he said.

Assuring to repair the damages, Reliance Jio spokesperson said trenching activities are undertaken after getting all necessary approvals from NMC. “Works are initiated only after clearance from NMC engineers in zone offices and other service providers. All precautions are taken while trenching but despite this if any damage is detected or reported, the company ensures immediate restoration. In this specific instance, the work was carried out around nine months back. As soon as the damage was reported to us, we contacted NMC officers and corporator from the ward and assured to repair it at the earliest by an expert contractor of NMC, at our cost. In order to ensure the longevity of our cables, we always aim to keep our cables isolated from other utilities like water/sewage pipelines,” he said.

Reliance Jio’s works were always in controversy since commencement of the project in the city. Two-year-old Pinky, daughter of a Banjara couple, fell into a pit without any safety barricades or caution notice by Reliance Jio and died on March 6. Unfortunately, NMC did not take any action on the company. The police department too neglected action despite complaint lodged by activist Shehbaz Siddiqui.

The company has been found damaging sewage lines, water supply network, power supply cables etc while executing cable laying works. The company was also found delaying restoration works.

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